The album that was TOO HEAVY for Capitol Records. Yeah, I just found that out but thought it was pretty funny. The band recorded this album under a deal with Capitol but they weren’t happy with the finished product being so heavy. Capitol Records’ loss was Elektra Records’ gain because they had the guts to release this oh-so-heavy album.

It’s funny as the years go by what passes for heavy. There’s no doubt this is New Wave of British Heavy Metal put forth by an American band and I’m sure it really was heavy for the time, but I think of a lot of it sounds like good ol’ American classic hard rock (like “Feel The Same” and “No Lies”). As for the NWOBHM, I’m seeing comparisons to the standards like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and early Def Leppard but I think Riot sounds more similar to Diamond Head at times than anything else.

It’s amazing to think this band didn’t have a whole lot of success. Though their style has evolved with each other, just on Fire Down Under below they should been seen as American metal giants. This is a fantastic album with virtually no filler and I can’t wait to try out the rest of their releases.

Anyway, Fire Down Under was previously released on CD in 1997 by High Vaultage Records, but for some reason, the mix was drastically changed which made Riot fans want to riot. This 1999 re-issue restores the mix to its original Elektra mix (though it drops 3 of the 5 bonus tracks the ’97 re-issue had).

Can someone please explain to me the story behind this, um… I dunno — “ferret man” they had on their early albums? Those album covers are some of the worst I’ve ever seen!

Fire Down Under is one of my all time favorites. I can still remember receiving the vinyl LP from my brother for Christmas. It’s as good now as it was then. Classic!

You’re right about the album covers. Maybe they would have sold more records if they had had more visually appealing artwork. Back in the day, I bought quite a few albums based solely on the album cover.